Zotto

Stop keeping your money wallet in your rear trousers.

It's a big bet. EV traction is the future, but the problem is always the same: batteries and ease of recharging fastly them. Toyota made a bet on fuel cells basically for fast fuelling, provided to have a distribution net for H2, considering that petrol companies could use their money to create the net; Tesla thinks that for daily use it's sufficient to charge the car every night at home, provided you have a place where to put your car connecting a electric cable. May be for city use at the moment Tesla solution is not bad, but for long trips it's not so good, needing to find charging stations and wait many minutes , while with a petrol car you can find everywhere a station and have full tank in a minute.

Hi Robert, same for my GS 300h with premium HDD; for map updates it seems you need to ask to dealer; if you plan to update maps better to wait till may because usually it's the month new ones arrive, about prices they are too much expensive; my suggestion is to give a look to Lexus map updates site. Meanwhile, I received a TSB advice from Lexus telling about a software update for navi HDD: software, not maps; I will ask about , probably something related to connected services and usability of navigation.

Best technique for regenerative braking Of course in that topic I was talking only about regenerative breaking, other techniques are involved to gain mpg, such as Pulse & Glide and a proper use of right foot, but condensing all rules in few words, avoid to have strong braking keeping charge indicator at half, try to reach the speed you want to keep not too fast but also not too slowly, and then keep the indicator at about 2/3 of blue ECO zone with engine ON and 6 charge bars if possible, not insisting for EV driving. If you use too much electricity you will have to recharge HV batteries later on, and doing this you loose more energy ( wasting more gasoline) because of transformation losses. All energy recovered with regenerative braking, is somewhat gained, and you spare brake pads too ;-)

Give a look to thread about hybrid driving, trying to keep the most time possible EV is NOT the best way to achieve best mpg ;-)

Great regenerative currents in HV battery are not so efficient because of loss of energy in heat; so the most efficient regeneration it's obtained not braking :-) ; of course if you need to brake better to do it softly for the longest time possible.

Hello Chris, I agree that a mp3 with high sample rate is good; the suggestion (if you like make experiment) to try other audio formats is just for listening the effects of conversion algorithms in audio processor of ML; I suspect that the engineers have considered first the Apple standard. Said this, probably the most important factor is a good sampling frequency. Uhm, in another thread I read here, for copyright reasons may be ML can read (even if undocumented) many other formats, using the trick to rename audio files with mp3 or wma o aac; it would be interesting to try with a flac or any other lossless one...

Navigation system in Lexus is not so "modern" like those you can find in other brand cars, nonetheless it works well, for sure it's not a reason to choose a Lexus; also navigation maps updates are rather expensive.

I had a GS 450h 2008 and the ML stereo was wonderful, for some sides better than ML stereo I have now on my GS 300h: the only problem is no USB connection, so you have to connect audio source via audio cable.

About file format, Chris, if you don't like mp3 you could experiment other formats, wma or similar, on manual there is a list of all supported ones, may be that some give a better sound.

New version after 2012 of 450h improved mpg of 15%, impressive.

> Apparently that's why it's badged 450h cos the total combined output was 450bhp. The hystorical reason for Hybrids of 450H , Lexus says, is that it is a 3,5 liters engine but with hybrid help it has a 4,5 liters performance: the same with IS 300h that is like a 3 liters with a 2,5 liters engine ;-)

Welcome!

The real difference worsening mileage is when you exceed 75 mpg. The first miles are always the worst for consumption, because engine has to get hot and it needs more gasoline.

P&G technique is for hypermilers, if you like to spare gasoline but not obsessed by low mpg, the way to drive a powerful and wonderful car like GS 450h is to reach cruise speed in a normal way, not too fast but also not so slowly, then leave for a moment the right foot and then pressing again just to keep speed; when you have to slow down try to avoid if you can braking, but if you need braking the most efficient way is to press brake pedal so that regenerative braking (energy recovered and stored in hybrid battery) works without needing to loose energy in heat and brake pads. How? Give a look to energy meter and you will notice the indicator moving counterclockwise down from 0 KW: you recover energy till you don't arrive with indicator totally down; after that point traditional brakes work and you loose kinetic energy (wasting brake pads). All this recovered energy will help you to have better mpg.

I had a GS450h my 2008, great car, probably better than 430 just for its hybrid features, but in you case I suggest to keep your V8, basically because changing it to get same chassis 450h could result expensive compared to advantages of hybrid; another matter if you plan to go to a newer hybrid model ( I love hybrid driving).

The heated seats can be regulated , so if you put them to max they works well, if you only rotate the knob to switch them on they are at minimum heating temp.

They are quite different, and in my opinion GS is superior to IS in all, but also in mantainance costs.

It is something similar to Prius engine : http://www.john2211.nl/Hybride_modi.htm

it's normal, the engine has to get warm fastly and stays ON, it's called S1 phase.

Sure it is not the noise from pump activating to restore pression in circuit ?

Many questions to answer... I had a 2008 GS 450h, wonderful and powerful car, in a intermediate version; unluckily I can' t be sure is the same in UK, names are different, here they were GS 450h, PLUS, and Ambassador , something like "sport". The differences are in some not so relevant features in terms of general performance, but in more useful gadgets. Don't worry about suspensions, they are all electronic controlled by integrated system that controls behaviour of car and can be set to normal, sport or snow, in sport mode you have a stiffer car. So, which difference you find in versions? The base version does not have radar and Mark Levinson audio, that is very good if you like hi-fi, the sport (Plus?) version is a bit more sportier, still no radar but bigger wheels and ML, Xenon lights? ( I don't remember if they are in all versions), while the Ambassador (SE-L? , now called Premier? ) you find all features more towards comfort, radar, ML, steering wheel with carved wood, sun roof and so on. Compared to later GS, all version have adaptive steering, while now it is only for Sport with rear wheels steering, not available before. About your 2nd question, not so many differences after 2010 restyling, may be some costs optimization ;-) , but the quality is excellent; if you have to pay attention to something, the most important thing to control is HV batteries status, so, a check for them ( or a special insurance in case of fault) is necessary, even if don't be much worried, you can read here in forum that even if Lexus suggest to change all HV block if faulty, it's possible to change single cells sparing MUCH money. Generally speaking, it's a car that performs a 0-100 km/h in 5.9 seconds and max speed limited to 250 km/h, that is for many reasons excessive (but sometimes I miss that, having passed to a newer GS 300h).

Uhm, may be it is switched from negative side; if so. you have to insulate the negative output of cam with a proper condenser, let's say a 0.5 microFarad or superior.

Easy. Take the +12 V from reverse light bulb.

My former GS was a 450h, and I decided to choose a smaller engine for excessive taxes here...